Predictive Communication System

ABSTRACT

The method includes receiving a communication from a customer; identifying a customer profile associated with the customer; accessing account activity data associated with the customer profile; analyzing the account activity data; and/or determining an intent prediction associated with the communication based on the analyzing the account activity data, wherein the intent prediction comprises a predicted reason for the communication.

FIELD

The present disclosure generally relates to providing communicationservices for customer communication, including predicting a reason for acustomer communication.

BACKGROUND

Customers may call a merchant, business, or other product or serviceprovider for a variety of reasons. When placing a telephone call orother communication to the business, the customer may have to convey thereason for the communication, which may be completed through anautomated selection menu (or other method), such that the business mayidentify the context or reason for the customer communication in orderto properly route the call. Such methods of identifying the reason for acustomer communication may be repetitive in different stages of acommunication (e.g., an automated part of a telephone call, and asubsequent transfer to an individual serving as a customer servicerepresentative) and time-consuming for a customer.

SUMMARY

A system, method, and article of manufacture (collectively, “thesystem”) are disclosed relating to predicting a reason for a customercommunication. In various embodiments, the system may be configured toperform operations including receiving, by a processor, a communicationfrom a customer; identifying, by the processor, a customer profileassociated with the customer; accessing, by the processor, accountactivity data associated with the customer profile; analyzing, by theprocessor, the account activity data; and/or determining, by theprocessor, an intent prediction associated with the communication basedon analyzing the account activity data. The intent prediction maycomprise a predicted reason for the communication.

In various embodiments, the operations may further comprise presenting,by the processor, the intent prediction to the customer; and/orreceiving, by the processor, an accuracy response from the customer inresponse to the presenting the intent prediction. In variousembodiments, the operations may further comprise routing, by theprocessor, the communication to a service system based on the intentprediction. In various embodiments, the operations may further comprisedetecting, by the processor, completion of an action; determining, bythe processor, a recommended action based on analyzing the accountactivity data; and/or presenting, by the processor, the recommendedaction to the customer after detecting the completion of the action.

In various embodiments, determining the intent prediction of thecustomer may comprise ranking, by the processor, a plurality of intentinsights comprised in the account activity data, producing a ranking ofthe plurality of intent insights; and/or determining, by the processor,the intent prediction by identifying, by the processor, a highestranking intent insight of the plurality of intent insights. In variousembodiments, determining the intent prediction further may comprisedetermining, by the processor, a priority insight of the plurality ofintent insights; and/or adjusting, by the processor, the ranking of theplurality of intent insights based on a priority insight such that thepriority insight is the highest ranking intent insight of the pluralityof intent insights. In various embodiments, ranking the plurality ofintent insights may comprise ranking the plurality of intent insights inchronological order, wherein a most recent intent insight comprises ahighest rank. In various embodiments, the operations may furthercomprise transmitting, by the processor, a context message to anoperator of the service system receiving the communication in theresponse to the routing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The subject matter of the present disclosure is particularly pointed outand distinctly claimed in the concluding portion of the specification. Amore complete understanding of the present disclosure, however, may bestbe obtained by referring to the detailed description and claims whenconsidered in connection with the drawing figures.

FIG. 1A shows an exemplary communication system comprising a predictivecommunication system, in accordance with various embodiments;

FIG. 1B shows an exemplary predictive communication system, inaccordance with various embodiments;

FIG. 2 shows a flowchart depicting an exemplary method for predicting acustomer communication intent, in accordance with various embodiments;and

FIG. 3 shows a flowchart depicting an exemplary method for determining arecommended action for a customer, in accordance with variousembodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The detailed description of various embodiments herein makes referenceto the accompanying drawings and pictures, which show variousembodiments by way of illustration. While these various embodiments aredescribed in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art topractice the disclosure, it should be understood that other embodimentsmay be realized and that logical and mechanical changes may be madewithout departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Thus, thedetailed description herein is presented for purposes of illustrationonly and not of limitation. For example, the steps recited in any of themethod or process descriptions may be executed in any order and are notlimited to the order presented. Moreover, any of the functions or stepsmay be outsourced to or performed by one or more third parties.Furthermore, any reference to singular includes plural embodiments, andany reference to more than one component may include a singularembodiment.

With reference to FIG. 1A, in accordance with various embodiments, anexemplary communication system 100 is depicted. System 100 may compriseexternal channels 86, an internal system 101, and/or a web client 192.Internal system 101 and its components may be associated with an entitysuch as a transaction account issuer. In operation, internal system 101may receive a communication from a customer (e.g., a telephone call,electronic message, or the like). To expedite the process ofcommunicating with the customer, predictive communication system 120comprised in internal system 101 may have the capability of accessingand analyzing account activity data (reflecting activity a customer hasconducted through his or her customer profile and/or transactionaccount, which may reflect activity trends) in order to predict theintent of the customer in initiating the customer communication (i.e.,the reason for the customer's telephone call or other communication).The system may also analyze the voice tone, or from a video call, thesystem may analyze customer impressions, body movements and/or facialfeatures to determine customer intent.

In various embodiments, system 100 may comprise various informationsources such as systems of record 82 and internal channels 84, which arecomprised in internal system 101, and/or external channels 86. Invarious embodiments, internal system 101 may comprise an informationdatabase 110, a predictive communication system 120, systems of record82, and/or internal channels 84. System 100, internal system 101, and/orpredictive communication system 120 may be computer-based, and maycomprise a processor, a tangible non-transitory computer-readablememory, and/or a network interface. Instructions stored on the tangiblenon-transitory memory may allow system 100, internal system 101, and/orpredictive communication system 120 to perform various functions, asdescribed herein.

In various embodiments, information database 110 may comprise hardwareand/or software capable of storing data. For example, informationdatabase 110 may comprise a server appliance running a suitable serveroperating system (e.g., MICROSOFT INTERNET INFORMATION SERVICES or,“IIS”) and having database software (e.g., ORACLE) installed thereon. Invarious embodiments, information database 110 may store account activitydata and customer profile information associated with a customerprofile, which is associated with a customer. In various embodiments,information database 110 may store numerous customer profiles associatedwith numerous customers. The customer profile may be associated withand/or comprise multiple transaction accounts (i.e., the customerutilizes numerous transaction instruments, each of which may beassociated with a transaction account). Customer profile information maycomprise information about the customer and/or her transaction historysuch as, merchants transacted with, types of transactions, type oftransaction account, frequency of transactions, number of transactions,timing of transactions demographic information, personal information(e.g., gender, race, religion), social media posts, social mediacomments about the customer, pictures of the customer, video of thecustomer, or any other information.

The account activity data may comprise information relating to actionsthe customer has taken through or relating to the customer profileand/or the transaction accounts. For example, account activity data mayreflect purchases that the customer has previously made through atransaction account, communications to or from internal system 101 andthe entity associated therewith (e.g., communications regarding tomaintenance/renewal of a transaction instrument/account, fraud alert,account changes, payments, payment due dates, and/or the like), whichmay include telephone calls or electronic messages, reward pointissuance and redemption, transaction instrument issuance, customerinformation updates, or any other activity conducted through or relatingto the customer profile and/or transaction account. In variousembodiments, account activity data may be comprised in the customerprofile information.

In various embodiments, information sources, including systems of record82, internal channels 84, and/or external channels 86 (collectively, the“Information Channels”), may provide predictive communication system 120and/or information database 110 with account activity data associatedwith one or more customer profiles. In various embodiments, eachInformation Channel may comprise a server appliance running a suitableserver operating system (e.g., MICROSOFT INTERNET INFORMATION SERVICESor, “IIS”) and having database software (e.g., ORACLE) installedthereon. Each Information Channel may each comprise multiple informationsources.

In various embodiments, systems of record 82 may comprise accountactivity data relating to a transaction instrument or a transactionaccount in a customer profile. For example, the account activity data insystems of record 82 may be related to rewards programs (e.g., loyaltyrewards issued to the customer profile and the customer's redemption ofthe rewards), transactions conducted using the customer profile and/oran associated transaction account, authorization information such asapprovals for transactions conducted through transaction account, theissuance of new or replacement transaction accounts to a customerprofile, and/or the like.

In various embodiments, internal channels 84 may comprise variouscommunication channels available to the customer to communicate withinternal system 101 and the associated entity (e.g., a transactionaccount issuer). For example, internal channels 84 may comprise accountactivity data related to customer communications between internal system101 and the customer through a customer profile, a mobile device and/orapplication, electronic messaging (e.g., email, instant messaging,social media channels, video calls or the like), telephone calls, and/orthe like. Internal channels 84 may comprise account activity datarelated to the content, timing, and/or results of the customercommunications, actions preceding or resulting from the customercommunications, or any other information related to customercommunications within internal system 101. For example, communicationsbetween the customer and internal system 101 may be exchanged throughinternal channels 84 regarding the customer's need of a new transactioninstrument, payment of a balance, or any other suitable topic.

In various embodiments, external channels 86 may comprise variouscommunication channels that are not a part of internal system 101.Internal system 101 may integrate with external channels 86 (e.g., by anapplication programming interface (API)) such that information may betransmitted between internal system 101 and external channels 86.External channels 86 may comprise social media networks such asFacebook®, Twitter®, Instagram®, or any other external communicationsystem which the customer may use to communicate (e.g., an externalemail system). Account activity data from external channels 86 maycomprise messages posted and/or sent by the customer on a social mediaaccount (which may be comprised in the customer profile) relating to acustomer's transaction instrument and/or transaction account. Forexample, a customer may post on a social media website how the customermisplaced a transaction instrument. Because of the integration betweeninternal system 101 and external channels 86, internal system 101 may beable to detect such a post as relevant (e.g., by recognizing key wordsrelating to transaction instruments or accounts) and utilize the post asaccount activity data because it relates to the customer's transactioninstrument and/or transaction account.

In various embodiments, predictive communication system 120 may comprisehardware and/or software capable of analyzing and/or storing data. Forexample, predictive communication system 120 may comprise a serverappliance running a suitable server operating system (e.g., MICROSOFTINTERNET INFORMATION SERVICES or, “IIS”) and having database software(e.g., ORACLE) installed thereon. Predictive communication system 120may be in electronic communication with information database 110, theInformation Channels (systems of record 82, internal channels 84, and/orexternal channels 86), and/or web client 192. Predictive communicationsystem 120 may function to predict the reason for a customer'scommunication placed to internal system 101 (i.e., determine an intentprediction). In response to internal system 101 receiving a customercommunication (e.g., a telephone call, video call, etc) from a customer,predictive communication system 120 may identify a customer profileassociated with the customer, receive the account activity data from theInformation Channels and/or information database 110 associated with thecustomer profile, receive customer profile information from informationdatabase 110, and analyze the account activity data and/or customerprofile information to determine the intent prediction.

In various embodiments, with reference to FIGS. 1A and 1B, predictivecommunication system 120 may comprise a context system 130 and/or acommunication response system 170. In various embodiments, predictivecommunication system 120 and/or context system 130 may comprise amessaging bus 132. Messaging bus 132 may comprise a logicalinterconnection permitting communication amongst the engines, databases,and other components of internal system 101 and/or system 100 as awhole. For example, messaging bus 132 may comprise a bus networkarrangement wherein each engine, database, and component may be incommunication with a main cable or link, enabling logical communicationamongst each engine, database, and/or component. In other words, allchannels from which information or communications may be received (e.g.,the Information Channels, information database 110, communicationresponse system 170 and context system 130 within predictivecommunication system 120, etc.) may be integrated and/or in electroniccommunication with one another so each component of internal system 101and/or system 100 may share the same information. Thus, any informationreceived and/or transmitted from one component of system 100 may beshared with and/or received by other components of system 100.

In various embodiments, context system 130 may comprise hardware and/orsoftware capable of analyzing and/or storing data. For example, contextsystem 130 may comprise a server appliance running a suitable serveroperating system (e.g., MICROSOFT INTERNET INFORMATION SERVICES or,“IIS”) and having database software (e.g., ORACLE) installed thereon. Invarious embodiments, context system 130 may comprise a context processor150. Context processor 150 may be in electronic communication withinformation database 110 and the Information Channels, and may receiveaccount activity data associated with a customer in response to internalsystem 101 receiving a communication (e.g., a telephone call) from thecustomer. Context processor 150 may also be in electronic communicationwith real-time stream processor 135, which may retrieve real timeaccount activity data from the Information Channels in response toreceiving a communication from a customer.

In various embodiments, context processor 150 may comprise customerfeedback 152, a predictive model 154, and/or real-time insights 156. Invarious embodiments, the account activity data may comprise intentinsights, which may be pieces of data that reflect past or recentactions (including communications, posts, etc.) by and/or to thecustomer, or related to the customer, whether thru the customer profilein internal system 101 or through external channels 86. Real-timeinsights 156 may be the real-time account activity, comprising real-timeintent insights (e.g., a type of intent insight), that is retrieved fromInformation Channels by real-time stream processor 135 and transmittedto context processor 150. Context processor 150, via predictive model154 comprising analysis rules, may analyze the account activity,including real-time insights 156, to determine ranking of the intentinsights comprised in the account activity data. The analysis rules ofpredictive model 154 may be based on prior customer servicinginteractions (e.g., the number, frequency, topics, of suchinteractions), communication channels, and other information used totrain predictive model 154 to determine priority ranking of intentinsights.

In various embodiments, predictive model 154 may analyze various aspectsof account activity data, and rank the intent insights comprised thereinbased on those aspects. For example, predictive model 154 may rankintent insights by their time stamp (e.g., the most recent action takenby the customer received by context system 130 may receive the highestranking). As a further example, going along with the time stamp example,predictive model 154 may rank intent insights reflecting recent customerinteractions as relatively high, such as a customer recentlycommunicating with internal system 101 via an internal channel 84, forexample, about a card replacement, potential fraud, a transactionquestion, etc. Predictive model 154, therefore, may recognize that acustomer communication initiated by a customer may likely be about therecent customer interaction. As yet another example, predictive model154 may detect account activity data comprising accumulation of variousvalues in a customer profile, such as a late fee(s), reward points, etc.In response to such values reaching a certain threshold, predictivemodel 154 may provide intent insights reflecting the value accumulationwith a relatively higher rank, because at such a threshold ofaccumulated value (the threshold may be predetermined), an action takenby or toward the customer may be imminent (e.g., an action to get latefees paid may be taken by a collection agency, or the customer may beable to redeem a certain item with the accumulated reward points). Invarious embodiments, predictive model 154 may rank intent insights byanother characteristics of the intent insights, such as importance orurgency (e.g., an intent insight related to fraud may be ranked as moreurgent than other intent insights).

In various embodiments, customers may provide feedback on the ranking ofintent insights. For example, a customer may place a communication(e.g., a telephone call) to internal system 101, and predictivecommunication system 120 may present the customer with an intentprediction, or a list of ranked actions, about which the customer may becalling based on analysis of account activity data by predictivecommunication system 120. If the intent prediction presented to thecustomer is correct (i.e., the intent prediction reflects the reason forthe customer's communication), the customer may indicate “yes” in anaccuracy response. If the intent prediction is incorrect, the customermay indicate “no” in an accuracy response. The accuracy responses may becomprised in customer feedback 152, and provided to predictive model 154to incorporate into its analysis rules for future analysis of accountactivity data, which may increase the accuracy of future intentpredictions.

In various embodiments, context system 130 may output an API 165comprising the ranked list of intent insights for the customer,transmitting API 165 to communication response system 170. In variousembodiments, communication response system 170 may comprise hardwareand/or software capable of analyzing and/or storing data. For example,communication response system 170 may comprise a server appliancerunning a suitable server operating system (e.g., MICROSOFT INTERNETINFORMATION SERVICES or, “IIS”) and having database software (e.g.,ORACLE) installed thereon. Communication response system 170 may be inelectronic communication with context system 130 such that information(e.g., API 165) may be transmitted therebetween. In various embodiments,communication response system 170 may comprise a servicing layer 172,and a presentation layer 180 in electronic communication with servicinglayer 172.

Servicing layer 172 may function to receive API 165 from context system130 and transmit API 165 to presentation layer 180. Servicing layer 172may also be in electronic communication with one or more of theInformation Channels, such as systems of record 82, to receive andcollate intent insights. In various embodiments, presentation layer 180may comprise an insight parser 182, an arbitration engine 184, acommunication decision engine 186, and/or a service system 188. Insightparser 182 may be configured to receive the ranked list of intentinsights from servicing layer 172 that was comprised in API 165, readthe rank of each intent insight of the ranked list (the rank may be arank marker placed on each intent insight by predictive model 154), mapthe intent insights according to each rank, and transmit the mapped,ranked intent insights to arbitration engine 184. For example, mappingthe intent insights by insight parser 182 may comprise insight parser182 notating which intent insight is ranked as the highest priority, andthen mapping or ordering the intent insights from there. In variousembodiments, arbitration engine 184 may be configured to read theranking and mapping of the intent insights, and further arbitrate theranked list of intent insights, such as further determining the highestpriority intent insight (i.e., which intent insight most likely reflectsthe reason the customer may be calling internal system 101).

In various embodiments, arbitration engine 184 may implement businessrules to determine which intent insights may be the highest ranking. Forexample, arbitration engine 184 may determine that the closest intentinsight in time to the communication by the customer may be the highestranking intent insight. As an example, a customer may access theassociated customer profile online and an attempt to order a replacementtransaction instrument, which may not be completed. In response, thecustomer may then call internal system 101 soon after attempting theonline replacement to complete the replacement order. Arbitration engine184 may recognize the temporal proximity of the intent insightreflecting the online attempted replacement (which may have beenreceived by predictive communication system 120 from systems of record82 and/or internal channels 84), and the customer call. Therefore,arbitration engine 184 may determine that the highest ranking intentinsight is the most recent intent insight regarding the attempted onlinetransaction instrument replacement. Arbitration engine 184 may alsodetermine that an intent insight of the plurality of intent insightsreceived by communication response system 170 may be a priority insight.As examples of priority insights, the business rules in arbitrationengine 184 for prioritizing intent insights may cause intent insightsrelated to fraud to rank highest, or certain correlations may cause anintent insight to be ranked higher than another that is temporallycloser to the customer's communication. As an example, arbitrationengine 184 may recognize that an intent insight reflecting an accountpayment is always conducted on a certain day of the month by thecustomer calling into internal system 101. Therefore, if the customercalls internal system 101 on that day of the month, the intent insightreflecting account payment may be ranked higher than other intentinsights having different characteristics. By analyzing the ranking ofthe intent contexts, arbitration engine 184 may determine an intentprediction (i.e., the most likely reason for a customer's communication(e.g., telephone call)). Arbitration engine 184 may transmit the intentprediction to communication decision engine 186.

Communication decision engine 186, in various embodiments, may receivethe intent prediction from arbitration engine 184. Communicationdecision engine 186 may be configured to route the customercommunication (e.g., telephone call) to the appropriate service system188. A service system 188 may be the communication that the customerreceives, in response to initiating a customer communication.Accordingly, communication decision engine 186 may analyze the intentprediction and match the intent prediction with an appropriate servicesystem 188 to respond to the customer communication. For example, if theintent prediction reflects a prediction that the customer wishes torequest a replacement transaction instrument, communication decisionengine 186 may route the customer communication to an automated (voice)response system that is specifically for card replacement. The intentprediction and routing to an appropriate service system 188 may occurbefore the customer has to take any action after initiating acommunication with internal system 101 (except, in some cases, providinga customer identifier to confirm the customer's identity). As anotherexample, communication decision engine 186 may recognize that an intentprediction is related to a predicted action by the customer that cannotbe completed by certain service systems 188 (e.g., automated servicesystems 188), such as to address fraud on a transaction account.Accordingly, communication decision engine 186 may route the customercommunication to a service system 188 allowing person-to-personcommunication. In various embodiments, there may be a service system 188for each action to be completed by the customer, or multiple actions maybe associated with a service system 188.

In various embodiments, web client 192 may incorporate hardware and/orsoftware components. For example, web client 192 may comprise a serverappliance running a suitable server operating system (e.g., MICROSOFTINTERNET INFORMATION SERVICES or, “IIS”). Web client 192 may be anydevice that allows a user to communicate with a network (e.g., apersonal computer, personal digital assistant (e.g., IPHONE®,BLACKBERRY®), tablet, cellular phone, kiosk, telephone, and/or thelike). Web client 192 may be in electronic communication with internalsystem 101, predictive communication system 120, and/or communicationresponse system 170 (e.g., in response to a customer initiating acommunication via web client 192).

Web client 192 includes any device (e.g., personal computer, mobiledevice, telephone, etc.) which communicates via any network, for examplesuch as those discussed herein. In various embodiments, web client 192may comprise and/or run a browser, such as MICROSOFT® INTERNETEXPLORER®, MOZILLA® FIREFOX®, GOOGLE® CHROME®, APPLE® Safari, or anyother of the myriad software packages available for browsing theinternet. For example, the browser may communicate with a server via anetwork by using Internet browsing software installed in the browser.The browser may comprise Internet browsing software installed within acomputing unit or a system to conduct online transactions and/orcommunications. These computing units or systems may take the form of acomputer or set of computers, although other types of computing units orsystems may be used, including laptops, notebooks, tablets, hand heldcomputers, personal digital assistants, set-top boxes, workstations,computer-servers, main frame computers, mini-computers, PC servers,pervasive computers, network sets of computers, personal computers, suchas IPADS®, IMACS®, and MACBOOKS®, kiosks, terminals, point of sale (POS)devices and/or terminals, televisions, or any other device capable ofreceiving data over a network. In various embodiments, browser may beconfigured to display an electronic channel.

Referring now to FIGS. 2 and 3 the process flows depicted are merelyembodiments and are not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure.For example, the steps recited in any of the method or processdescriptions may be executed in any order and are not limited to theorder presented. It will be appreciated that the following descriptionmakes appropriate references not only to the steps and user interfaceelements depicted in FIGS. 2 and 3, but also to the various systemcomponents as described above with reference to FIGS. 1A and 1B.

With combined reference to FIGS. 1A, 1B, and 2, in accordance variousembodiments, a method 200 for predicting a customer communication intentis depicted. In various embodiments, a customer having a customerprofile associated and/or comprised in internal system 101 may initiatea communication with internal system 101. Such customer communicationswill be referred to as telephone calls herein, however, the customercommunication may be any communication (e.g., in real time), such asinstant messaging, or other types of electronic messaging, video chat,and/or the like. In various embodiments, internal system 101 may havetransmitted a notification to the customer profile instructing thecustomer to contact internal system 101. In response to the customerinitiating a customer communication with internal system 101, internalsystem 101 and/or predictive communication system 120 may receive thecustomer communication (step 202).

Internal system 101, in response to receiving the customercommunication, may identify the customer profile (step 204) associatedwith the customer initiating the customer communication. In variousembodiments, internal system 101 may identify the customer profile byreceiving a customer profile identifier (e.g., a password, socialsecurity number, biometric (e.g., fingerprint, voice print or facialrecognition from a video call), or the like) and matching the customerprofile identifier with a saved identifier. In various embodiments, thecustomer profile identifier may be a telephone number, in which case,internal system 101 may automatically match the telephone number fromwhich the telephone call is received with a stored telephone numberassociated with the customer profile, thereby identifying the customerprofile and authenticating the identity of the customer. In variousembodiments, the customer profile identifier may be requested ofcustomer by internal system 101, and input by the customer. The systemmay require the customer to answer additional security questions orenter additional identifying data.

In response to identifying the customer profile, internal system and/orpredictive communication system 120 may access the account activity data(step 206) associated with the customer profile (and/or a spouse accountactivity, supplemental account activity, etc). As described herein,predictive communication system 120 and/or context system 130 mayretrieve and/or receive the account activity data associated with thecustomer profile from information database 110 and/or the InformationChannels. In various embodiments, real-time stream processor 135 mayretrieve real-time account activity data from the Information Channels.In various embodiments, account activity data that occurred within adetermined duration may be retrieved, such as a week or a month (accountactivity data happening too far in the past may be irrelevant to thereason for the customer communication).

Context processor 150, utilizing real-time insights 156, customerfeedback 152, and the analysis rules of predictive model 154, mayanalyze the account activity data (step 208). As discussed herein,predictive model 154 may analyze the account activity data by rankingthe intent insights comprised in the account activity data by priority(or the likelihood that an action reflected by a certain intent insightis the reason for the customer communication). Again, intent insightsmay be pieces of data that reflect past and/or recent actions (includingcommunications) by the customer or related to the customer whether thruthe customer profile in internal system 101 or through external channels86. For example, predictive model 154 may rank the intent insightschronologically, with the most recent intent insight (reflecting themost recent action taken by the customer) ranked first. For example, ifthe customer tried most recently to replace a card, or internal system101 instructed the customer to initiate a customer communication withinternal system 101, an intent insight reflecting such action would beranked highest. In various embodiments, the analysis rules of predictivemodel 154 may cause ranking of intent insights in any suitable manner(e.g., by type, wherein certain types of intent insights are rankedhigher, such as fraud-related insights, or by chronology and type,and/or the like). Accordingly, predictive model 154 may create a rankedlist of intent insights.

Context system 130 may transmit an API 165 comprising the ranked intentinsights to communication response system 170 to further analyze theaccount activity data (continuing with step 208). As discussed herein,servicing layer 172 may receive the API 165 and transmit it topresentation layer 180. Insight parser 182 may receive the ranked intentinsights from servicing layer 172. Insight parser 182 may read the rankof each intent insight, and map the intent insights according to eachrank (e.g., producing a ranked list to be further analyzed byarbitration engine 184). Insight parser 182 may transmit the mapped,ranked intent insights to arbitration engine 184. Arbitration engine 184receive the mapped, ranked intent insights from insight parser 182, andmay read the ranking and mapping of the intent insights, and determinethe highest priority intent insight (i.e., which intent insight mostlikely reflects the reason the customer may be calling internal system101 regarding).

As discussed herein, arbitration engine 184 may implement business rulesto determine which intent insights may be the highest ranking orpriority. For example, arbitration engine 184 may determine that theclosest intent insight in time to the telephone call by the customer tointernal system 101 may be the highest ranking intent insight. As anexample, if the chronologically closest intent insight reflected acommunication from internal system 101 to the customer profileinstructing the customer to call internal system 101 about a topic (anintent insight), the customer communication would likely be regardingthat topic. Therefore, that intent insight, being closest in temporalproximity to the customer's telephone call to internal system 101, maybe determined as the highest ranking intent insight. Or, there may betypes of intent insights which may be priority insights. Going with thesame example above, if the customer has a transaction dispute, butinternal system 101 instructed the customer to call internal system 101before the transaction dispute, an intent insight relating to aninstruction to call may be prioritized higher than the intent insightreflecting the transaction dispute. That is, arbitration engine 184 maydetermine the presence of a priority insight of the intent insightsanalyzed, and adjust the ranking of the intent insights (which wasoriginally chronological) based on the priority insight. As a furtherexample, intent insights reflecting matters of fraud or transactionaccount decline may be prioritized higher (i.e., may be priorityinsights) than other types of intent insights or chronological rankings.Arbitration engine 184 may determine an intent prediction (step 210)associated with the customer communication based on arbitration engine's184 analysis of the account activity data (and analysis performed byother components of predictive communication system 120).

In response to determining the intent prediction, communication decisionengine 186 may receive the intent prediction from arbitration engine184, and may determine the appropriate service system 188 to route thecustomer communication. In response to determining the appropriateservice system 188, communication decision engine 186 may route thecustomer communication to the service system 188 (step 212). Eachservice system 188 may be a communication system to address certainactions (e.g., transaction instrument replacement, account freezing,fraud, balance payment, etc.). For example, if the action is somethingthat can be taken care of over an automated service system 188,communication decision engine 186 may route the customer communicationto an automated service system 188. In response, presentation layer 180may present the intent prediction (step 214) to the customer (e.g., viaa push notification). Such a presentation may comprise an accuracyinquiry, inquiring if the action reflected in the intent prediction isthe reason for the customer's call. In response, the customer mayindicate “yes” or “no” (in various embodiments, by pressing a button,speaking, or otherwise providing an electronic input to predictivecommunication system 120), which may be an accuracy response (customerfeedback 152). Internal system 101 and/or predictive communicationsystem 120 may receive the accuracy response (step 216), and transmitthe results as customer feedback 152 for predictive model 154 toutilize. In response to receiving a positive accuracy response,presentation layer 180 may continue with the same service system 188. Inresponse to receiving a negative accuracy response, presentation layer180 may re-route the customer communication to another service system188 (e.g., a selection menu to allow the customer to input the reasonfor the call).

In various embodiments, the steps of method 200 may be executed in anysuitable order. For example, the intent prediction may be presented tothe customer (step 214) in response to determining the intent prediction(step 210), the customer may input, and predictive communication system120 may receive, an accuracy response (step 216) based on the intentprediction presentation, and subsequently, the customer communicationmay be routed to the appropriate service system (step 212). In variousembodiments, an intent prediction may be comprised as part of a servicesystem 188.

As discussed above, if the action or reason for the customercommunication cannot be resolved through an automated service system188, communication decision engine 186 may route the customercommunication to a service system 188 allowing person-to-personcommunication. In such embodiments, predictive communication system 120may transmit a context message to the operator (e.g., a customer servicerepresentative) (step 218) of the service system 188 associated withinternal system 101 conveying the intent prediction determined bypredictive communication system 120 (through context processor 150 andpresentation layer 180). That way, the operator will have theinformation reflecting the predicted reason for the customer's call(provided by the context message), and the customer does not have toconvey the reason to the operator, which may be repetitive (e.g., if aprocess was started online via computer, and then required a telephonecall, on the telephone call, the customer would not have to repeat theinformation already provided online).

Referring to FIG. 3, a method 300 for determining a recommended actionfor a customer is depicted. In various embodiments, with combinedreference to FIGS. 1A, 1B, and 3, predictive communication system 120may detect completion of an action (step 302). The customer may havecompleted the action for which she was calling (e.g., requesting areplacement transaction instrument, disputing a transaction, orresolving another issue), or the completed action may comprise anegative accuracy response. The completed action may be a stopping pointfor the customer communication.

Predictive communication system 120 may determine a recommended action(step 304), or multiple recommended actions. Arbitration engine 184 mayanalyze the ranked intent insights received from context system 130, anddetermine a recommended action based on the business or analysis rules,similar to the analysis comprised in step 208 of method 200 (FIG. 2).The recommended action may be another action which the customer may wishto take during the customer communication. In various embodiments, therecommended action may be the second highest priority of the rankedinvent insights. For example, a priority insight may have ranked highest(e.g., relating to fraud), but the closest intent insight temporally mayhave been a notice that an account balance payment is due (which wasranked second). Therefore, arbitration engine 184 may determine therecommended action may be paying the account balance. In variousembodiments, the recommended action may be actions available to thecustomer, unrelated to the intent insight ranking. For example,predictive communication system 120 may recognize that a balance paymentdue data for a transaction account is on a day which the customer hastravel plans (e.g., through internal system's 101 integration with anexternal channel 86 such as an airline). Therefore, arbitration engine184 may determine that the recommended action may be payment of thebalance.

In response to determining a recommended action, presentation layer 180may present the recommended action to the customer (step 306). Thepresentation may comprise routing the customer communication to theappropriate service system 188, such as, following the example above, aservice system which may allow balance payment. Presentation layer 180,similar to method 200, may present an accuracy inquiry to see if thecustomer would like to take the recommended action, and the customer mayinput an accuracy response. Based on the accuracy response,communication decision engine 186 may route the customer communicationto the appropriate service system 188 (or allow the customercommunication to remain at the current service system 188).

This process and system improves the functioning of the computer. Forexample, by predictive communication system 120 integrating with theInformation Channels (i.e., systems of record 82, internal channels 84,and/or external channels 86) and receiving account activity datatherefrom, predictive communication system 120 may analyze the accountactivity data to predict the intent or reason for a customer's call (orother customer communication into internal system 101 to take someaccount action). The structure of and process enabled by system 100improves computer function because information between multiple channelsand systems may be transmitted and/or retrieved in order to predict theintent of a customer communication. For example, a customer may performan account action (i.e., account activity) through internal channels 84,and may transition between communication channels (e.g., from internalchannels 84 to a telephone call to complete the action). Because of theaccount activity data retrievable from the integration betweenpredictive communication system 120 and the Information Channels,internal system 101 may predict the reason for the customer's call(e.g., to complete the account action). That is, information may bereadily shared between communication channels and components withinsystem 100 and/or internal system 101. Therefore, internal system 101may not require the customer to provide information about the accountaction upon the customer calling internal system 101, and the customermay be automatically transferred to the correct service system 188(e.g., an automated system, or a customer service representative),providing greater efficiency for both internal system 101 and thecustomer. This results in more accurate data and speeds the processingof the service requests.

The disclosure and claims do not describe only a particular outcome ofpredicting customer communication intent, but the disclosure and claimsinclude specific rules for predicting customer communication intent, andthat render information into a specific format that is then used andapplied to create the desired results of a customer intent prediction,as set forth in McRO, Inc. v. Bandai Namco Games America Inc. (Fed. Cir.case number 15-1080, Sep. 13, 2016). In other words, the outcome ofpredicting customer communication intent can be performed by manydifferent types of rules and combinations of rules, and this disclosureincludes various embodiments with specific rules. While the absence ofcomplete preemption may not guarantee that a claim is eligible, thedisclosure does not sufficiently preempt the field of predictingcustomer communication intent at all. The disclosure acts to narrow,confine, and otherwise tie down the disclosure so as not to cover thegeneral abstract idea of just predicting customer communication intent.Significantly, other systems and methods exist for predicting customercommunication intent, so it would be inappropriate to assert that theclaimed invention preempts the field or monopolizes the basic tools ofpredicting customer communication intent. In other words, the disclosurewill not prevent others from predicting customer communication intent,because other systems are already performing the functionality indifferent ways than the claimed invention. Moreover, the claimedinvention includes an inventive concept that may be found in thenon-conventional and non-generic arrangement of known, conventionalpieces, in conformance with Bascom v. AT&T Mobility, 2015-1763 (Fed.Cir. 2016). The disclosure and claims go way beyond any conventionalityof any one of the systems in that the interaction and synergy of thesystems leads to additional functionality that is not provided by anyone of the systems operating independently. The disclosure and claimsmay also include the interaction between multiple different systems, sothe disclosure cannot be considered an implementation of a genericcomputer, or just “apply it” to an abstract process. The disclosure andclaims may also be directed to improvements to software with a specificimplementation of a solution to a problem in the software arts.

In various embodiments, the system and method may include alerting asubscriber when their computer (e.g., web client 192) is offline. Thesystem may include generating customized information and alerting aremote subscriber that the information can be accessed from theircomputer. The alerts are generated by filtering received information,building information alerts and formatting the alerts into data blocksbased upon subscriber preference information. The data blocks aretransmitted to the subscriber's wireless device which, when connected tothe computer, causes the computer to auto-launch an application todisplay the information alert and provide access to more detailedinformation about the information alert. More particularly, the methodmay comprise providing a viewer application to a subscriber forinstallation on the remote subscriber computer; receiving information ata transmission server sent from a data source over the Internet, thetransmission server comprising a microprocessor and a memory that storesthe remote subscriber's preferences for information format, destinationaddress, specified information, and transmission schedule, wherein themicroprocessor filters the received information by comparing thereceived information to the specified information; generates aninformation alert from the filtered information that contains a name, aprice and a universal resource locator (URL), which specifies thelocation of the data source; formats the information alert into datablocks according to said information format; and transmits the formattedinformation alert over a wireless communication channel to a wirelessdevice associated with a subscriber based upon the destination addressand transmission schedule, wherein the alert activates the applicationto cause the information alert to display on the remote subscribercomputer and to enable connection via the URL to the data source overthe Internet when the wireless device is locally connected to the remotesubscriber computer and the remote subscriber computer comes online.

In various embodiments, the system and method may include a graphicaluser interface for dynamically relocating/rescaling obscured textualinformation of an underlying window to become automatically viewable tothe user (e.g., via a display screen on web client 192). By permittingtextual information to be dynamically relocated based on an overlapcondition, the computer's ability to display information is improved.More particularly, the method for dynamically relocating textualinformation within an underlying window displayed in a graphical userinterface may comprise displaying a first window containing textualinformation in a first format within a graphical user interface on acomputer screen; displaying a second window within the graphical userinterface; constantly monitoring the boundaries of the first window andthe second window to detect an overlap condition where the second windowoverlaps the first window such that the textual information in the firstwindow is obscured from a user's view; determining the textualinformation would not be completely viewable if relocated to anunobstructed portion of the first window; calculating a first measure ofthe area of the first window and a second measure of the area of theunobstructed portion of the first window; calculating a scaling factorwhich is proportional to the difference between the first measure andthe second measure; scaling the textual information based upon thescaling factor; automatically relocating the scaled textual information,by a processor, to the unobscured portion of the first window in asecond format during an overlap condition so that the entire scaledtextual information is viewable on the computer screen by the user; andautomatically returning the relocated scaled textual information, by theprocessor, to the first format within the first window when the overlapcondition no longer exists.

In various embodiments, the system may also include isolating andremoving malicious code from electronic messages (e.g., email) toprevent a computer from being compromised, for example by being infectedwith a computer virus. The system may scan electronic communications formalicious computer code and clean the electronic communication before itmay initiate malicious acts. The system operates by physically isolatinga received electronic communication in a “quarantine” sector of thecomputer memory. A quarantine sector is a memory sector created by thecomputer's operating system such that files stored in that sector arenot permitted to act on files outside that sector. When a communicationcontaining malicious code is stored in the quarantine sector, the datacontained within the communication is compared to maliciouscode-indicative patterns stored within a signature database. Thepresence of a particular malicious code-indicative pattern indicates thenature of the malicious code. The signature database further includescode markers that represent the beginning and end points of themalicious code. The malicious code is then extracted from maliciouscode-containing communication. An extraction routine is run by a fileparsing component of the processing unit. The file parsing routineperforms the following operations: scan the communication for theidentified beginning malicious code marker; flag each scanned bytebetween the beginning marker and the successive end malicious codemarker; continue scanning until no further beginning malicious codemarker is found; and create a new data file by sequentially copying allnon-flagged data bytes into the new file, which thus forms a sanitizedcommunication file. The new, sanitized communication is transferred to anon-quarantine sector of the computer memory. Subsequently, all data onthe quarantine sector is erased. More particularly, the system includesa method for protecting a computer from an electronic communicationcontaining malicious code by receiving an electronic communicationcontaining malicious code in a computer with a memory having a bootsector, a quarantine sector and a non-quarantine sector; storing thecommunication in the quarantine sector of the memory of the computer,wherein the quarantine sector is isolated from the boot and thenon-quarantine sector in the computer memory, where code in thequarantine sector is prevented from performing write actions on othermemory sectors; extracting, via file parsing, the malicious code fromthe electronic communication to create a sanitized electroniccommunication, wherein the extracting comprises scanning thecommunication for an identified beginning malicious code marker,flagging each scanned byte between the beginning marker and a successiveend malicious code marker, continuing scanning until no furtherbeginning malicious code marker is found, and creating a new data fileby sequentially copying all non-flagged data bytes into a new file thatforms a sanitized communication file; transferring the sanitizedelectronic communication to the non-quarantine sector of the memory; anddeleting all data remaining in the quarantine sector.

In various embodiments, the system may also address the problem ofretaining control over customers during affiliate purchase transactions,using a system for co-marketing the “look and feel” of the host web pagewith the product-related content information of the advertisingmerchant's web page. The system can be operated by a third-partyoutsource provider, who acts as a broker between multiple hosts andmerchants. Prior to implementation, a host places links to a merchant'swebpage on the host's web page. The links are associated withproduct-related content on the merchant's web page. Additionally, theoutsource provider system stores the “look and feel” information fromeach host's web pages in a computer data store, which is coupled to acomputer server. The “look and feel” information includes visuallyperceptible elements such as logos, colors, page layout, navigationsystem, frames, mouse-over effects or other elements that are consistentthrough some or all of each host's respective web pages. A customer whoclicks on an advertising link is not transported from the host web pageto the merchant's web page, but instead is re-directed to a compositeweb page that combines product information associated with the selecteditem and visually perceptible elements of the host web page. Theoutsource provider's server responds by first identifying the host webpage where the link has been selected and retrieving the correspondingstored “look and feel” information. The server constructs a compositeweb page using the retrieved “look and feel” information of the host webpage, with the product-related content embedded within it, so that thecomposite web page is visually perceived by the customer as associatedwith the host web page. The server then transmits and presents thiscomposite web page to the customer so that she effectively remains onthe host web page to purchase the item without being redirected to thethird party merchant affiliate. Because such composite pages arevisually perceived by the customer as associated with the host web page,they give the customer the impression that she is viewing pages servedby the host. Further, the customer is able to purchase the item withoutbeing redirected to the third party merchant affiliate, thus allowingthe host to retain control over the customer. This system enables thehost to receive the same advertising revenue streams as before butwithout the loss of visitor traffic and potential customers. Moreparticularly, the system may be useful in an outsource provider servingweb pages offering commercial opportunities. The computer storecontaining data, for each of a plurality of first web pages, defining aplurality of visually perceptible elements, which visually perceptibleelements correspond to the plurality of first web pages; wherein each ofthe first web pages belongs to one of a plurality of web page owners;wherein each of the first web pages displays at least one active linkassociated with a commerce object associated with a buying opportunityof a selected one of a plurality of merchants; and wherein the selectedmerchant, the outsource provider, and the owner of the first web pagedisplaying the associated link are each third parties with respect toone other; a computer server at the outsource provider, which computerserver is coupled to the computer store and programmed to: receive fromthe web browser of a computer user a signal indicating activation of oneof the links displayed by one of the first web pages; automaticallyidentify as the source page the one of the first web pages on which thelink has been activated; in response to identification of the sourcepage, automatically retrieve the stored data corresponding to the sourcepage; and using the data retrieved, automatically generate and transmitto the web browser a second web page that displays: informationassociated with the commerce object associated with the link that hasbeen activated, and the plurality of visually perceptible elementsvisually corresponding to the source page.

Systems, methods and computer program products are provided. In thedetailed description herein, references to “various embodiments”, “oneembodiment”, “an embodiment”, “an example embodiment”, etc., indicatethat the embodiment described may include a particular feature,structure, or characteristic, but every embodiment may not necessarilyinclude the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover,such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment.Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic isdescribed in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it iswithin the knowledge of one skilled in the art to affect such feature,structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodimentswhether or not explicitly described. After reading the description, itwill be apparent to one skilled in the relevant art(s) how to implementthe disclosure in alternative embodiments.

As used herein, “satisfy”, “meet”, “match”, “associated with” or similarphrases may include an identical match, a partial match, meeting certaincriteria, matching a subset of data, a correlation, satisfying certaincriteria, a correspondence, an association, an algorithmic relationshipand/or the like. Similarly, as used herein, “authenticate” or similarterms may include an exact authentication, a partial authentication,authenticating a subset of data, a correspondence, satisfying certaincriteria, an association, an algorithmic relationship and/or the like.

Terms and phrases similar to “associate” and/or “associating” mayinclude tagging, flagging, correlating, using a look-up table or anyother method or system for indicating or creating a relationship betweenelements, such as, for example, (i) a customer profile, (ii) atransaction account, and/or (iii) account activity data. Moreover, theassociating may occur at any point, in response to any suitable action,event, or period of time. The associating may occur at pre-determinedintervals, periodic, randomly, once, more than once, or in response to asuitable request or action. Any of the information may be distributedand/or accessed via a software enabled link, wherein the link may besent via an email, text, post, social network input and/or any othermethod known in the art.

The system or any components may integrate with system integrationtechnology such as, for example, the ALEXA system developed by AMAZON.Alexa is a cloud-based voice service that can help you with tasks,entertainment, general information and more. All Amazon Alexa devices,such as the Amazon Echo, Amazon Dot, Amazon Tap and Amazon Fire TV, haveaccess to the Alexa Voice Service. The system may receive voice commandsvia its voice activation technology, and activate other functions,control smart devices and/or gather information. For example, music,emails, texts, calling, questions answered, home improvementinformation, smart home communication/activation, games, shopping,making to-do lists, setting alarms, streaming podcasts, playingaudiobooks, and providing weather, traffic, and other real timeinformation, such as news. The system may allow the user to accessinformation about eligible accounts linked to an online account acrossall Alexa-enabled devices.

The customer may be identified as a customer of interest to a merchantbased on the customer's transaction data (including transaction history)at the merchant, account activity data, types of transactions, type oftransaction account, frequency of transactions, number of transactions,lack of transactions, timing of transactions, transaction history atother merchants, demographic information, personal information (e.g.,gender, race, religion), social media or any other online information,potential for transacting with the merchant and/or any other factors.

The phrases consumer, customer, user, account holder, account affiliate,cardmember or the like shall include any person, entity, business,government organization, business, software, hardware, machineassociated with a transaction account, buys merchant offerings offeredby one or more merchants using the account and/or who is legallydesignated for performing transactions on the account, regardless ofwhether a physical card is associated with the account. For example, thecardmember may include a transaction account owner, a transactionaccount user, an account affiliate, a child account user, a subsidiaryaccount user, a beneficiary of an account, a custodian of an account,and/or any other person or entity affiliated or associated with atransaction account.

As used herein, big data may refer to partially or fully structured,semi-structured, or unstructured data sets including millions of rowsand hundreds of thousands of columns. A big data set may be compiled,for example, from a history of purchase transactions over time, from webregistrations, from social media, from records of charge (ROC), fromsummaries of charges (SOC), from internal data, or from other suitablesources. Big data sets may be compiled without descriptive metadata suchas column types, counts, percentiles, or other interpretive-aid datapoints.

A record of charge (or “ROC”) may comprise any transaction ortransaction data. The ROC may be a unique identifier associated with atransaction. Record of Charge (ROC) data includes important informationand enhanced data. For example, a ROC may contain details such aslocation, merchant name or identifier, transaction amount, transactiondate, account number, account security pin or code, account expiry date,and the like for the transaction. Such enhanced data increases theaccuracy of matching the transaction data to the receipt data. Suchenhanced ROC data is NOT equivalent to transaction entries from abanking statement or transaction account statement, which is verylimited to basic data about a transaction. Furthermore, a ROC isprovided by a different source, namely the ROC is provided by themerchant to the transaction processor. In that regard, the ROC is aunique identifier associated with a particular transaction. A ROC isoften associated with a Summary of Charges (SOC). The ROCs and SOCsinclude information provided by the merchant to the transactionprocessor, and the ROCs and SOCs are used in the settlement process withthe merchant. A transaction may, in various embodiments, be performed bya one or more members using a transaction account, such as a transactionaccount associated with a gift card, a debit card, a credit card, andthe like.

Distributed computing cluster may be, for example, a Hadoop® or Spark™cluster configured to process and store big data sets with some of nodescomprising a distributed storage system and some of nodes comprising adistributed processing system. In that regard, distributed computingcluster may be configured to support a Hadoop® or Spark™ distributedfile system (HDFS) as specified by the Apache Software Foundation athttp://hadoop.apache.org/docs/ or https://spark.apache.org/,respectively. For more information on big data management systems, seeU.S. Ser. No. 14/944,902 titled INTEGRATED BIG DATA INTERFACE FORMULTIPLE STORAGE TYPES and filed on Nov. 18, 2015; U.S. Ser. No.14/944,979 titled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR READING AND WRITING TO BIG DATASTORAGE FORMATS and filed on Nov. 18, 2015; U.S. Ser. No. 14/945,032titled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CREATING, TRACKING, AND MAINTAINING BIGDATA USE CASES and filed on Nov. 18, 2015; U.S. Ser. No. 14/944,849titled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATICALLY CAPTURING AND RECORDINGLINEAGE DATA FOR BIG DATA RECORDS and filed on Nov. 18, 2015; U.S. Ser.No. 14/944,898 titled SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR TRACKING SENSITIVE DATA INA BIG DATA ENVIRONMENT and filed on Nov. 18, 2015; and U.S. Ser. No.14/944,961 titled SYSTEM AND METHOD TRANSFORMING SOURCE DATA INTO OUTPUTDATA IN BIG DATA ENVIRONMENTS and filed on Nov. 18, 2015, the contentsof each of which are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety.

Any communication, transmission and/or channel discussed herein mayinclude any system or method for delivering content (e.g. data,information, metadata, etc), and/or the content itself. The content maybe presented in any form or medium, and in various embodiments, thecontent may be delivered electronically and/or capable of beingpresented electronically. For example, a channel (e.g., internalchannels 84 and/or external channels 86) may comprise a website ordevice (e.g., Facebook, YOUTUBE®, APPLE®TV®, PANDORA®, XBOX®, SONY®PLAYSTATION®), a uniform resource locator (“URL”), a document (e.g., aMICROSOFT® Word® document, a MICROSOFT® Excel® document, an ADOBE® .pdfdocument, etc.), an “ebook,” an “emagazine,” an application ormicroapplication (as described herein), an SMS or other type of textmessage, an email, facebook, twitter, MMS and/or other type ofcommunication technology. In various embodiments, a channel may behosted or provided by a data partner. In various embodiments, thedistribution channel may comprise at least one of a merchant website, asocial media website, affiliate or partner websites, an external vendor,a mobile device communication, social media network and/or locationbased service. Distribution channels may include at least one of amerchant website, a social media site, affiliate or partner websites, anexternal vendor, and a mobile device communication. Examples of socialmedia sites include FACEBOOK®, FOURSQUARE®, TWITTER®, MYSPACE®,LINKEDIN®, and the like. Examples of affiliate or partner websitesinclude AMERICAN EXPRESS®, GROUPON®, LIVINGSOCIAL®, and the like.Moreover, examples of mobile device communications include texting,email, and mobile applications for smartphones.

A “customer profile” or “customer profile data” may comprise anyinformation or data about a consumer that describes an attributeassociated with the consumer (e.g., a preference, an interest,demographic information, personally identifying information, and thelike).

In various embodiments, the methods described herein are implementedusing the various particular machines described herein. The methodsdescribed herein may be implemented using the below particular machines,and those hereinafter developed, in any suitable combination, as wouldbe appreciated immediately by one skilled in the art. Further, as isunambiguous from this disclosure, the methods described herein mayresult in various transformations of certain articles.

For the sake of brevity, conventional data networking, applicationdevelopment and other functional aspects of the systems (and componentsof the individual operating components of the systems) may not bedescribed in detail herein. Furthermore, the connecting lines shown inthe various figures contained herein are intended to represent exemplaryfunctional relationships and/or physical couplings between the variouselements. It should be noted that many alternative or additionalfunctional relationships or physical connections may be present in apractical system.

The various system components discussed herein may include one or moreof the following: a host server or other computing systems including aprocessor for processing digital data; a memory coupled to the processorfor storing digital data; an input digitizer coupled to the processorfor inputting digital data; an application program stored in the memoryand accessible by the processor for directing processing of digital databy the processor; a display device coupled to the processor and memoryfor displaying information derived from digital data processed by theprocessor; and a plurality of databases. Various databases used hereinmay include: client data; merchant data; financial institution data;and/or like data useful in the operation of the system. As those skilledin the art will appreciate, user computer may include an operatingsystem (e.g., WINDOWS®, OS2, UNIX®, LINUX®, SOLARIS®, MacOS, etc.) aswell as various conventional support software and drivers typicallyassociated with computers.

The present system or any part(s) or function(s) thereof may beimplemented using hardware, software or a combination thereof and may beimplemented in one or more computer systems or other processing systems.However, the manipulations performed by embodiments were often referredto in terms, such as matching or selecting, which are commonlyassociated with mental operations performed by a human operator. No suchcapability of a human operator is necessary, or desirable in most cases,in any of the operations described herein. Rather, the operations may bemachine operations or any of the operations may be conducted or enhancedby Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Machine Learning. Useful machines forperforming the various embodiments include general purpose digitalcomputers or similar devices.

In fact, in various embodiments, the embodiments are directed toward oneor more computer systems capable of carrying out the functionalitydescribed herein. The computer system includes one or more processors,such as processor. The processor is connected to a communicationinfrastructure (e.g., a communications bus, cross-over bar, or network).Various software embodiments are described in terms of this exemplarycomputer system. After reading this description, it will become apparentto a person skilled in the relevant art(s) how to implement variousembodiments using other computer systems and/or architectures. Computersystem can include a display interface that forwards graphics, text, andother data from the communication infrastructure (or from a frame buffernot shown) for display on a display unit.

Computer system also includes a main memory, such as for example randomaccess memory (RAM), and may also include a secondary memory orin-memory (non-spinning) hard drives. The secondary memory may include,for example, a hard disk drive and/or a removable storage drive,representing a floppy disk drive, a magnetic tape drive, an optical diskdrive, etc. The removable storage drive reads from and/or writes to aremovable storage unit in a well-known manner. Removable storage unitrepresents a floppy disk, magnetic tape, optical disk, etc. which isread by and written to by removable storage drive. As will beappreciated, the removable storage unit includes a computer usablestorage medium having stored therein computer software and/or data.

In various embodiments, secondary memory may include other similardevices for allowing computer programs or other instructions to beloaded into computer system. Such devices may include, for example, aremovable storage unit and an interface. Examples of such may include aprogram cartridge and cartridge interface (such as that found in videogame devices), a removable memory chip (such as an erasable programmableread only memory (EPROM), or programmable read only memory (PROM)) andassociated socket, and other removable storage units and interfaces,which allow software and data to be transferred from the removablestorage unit to computer system.

Computer system may also include a communications interface.Communications interface allows software and data to be transferredbetween computer system and external devices. Examples of communicationsinterface may include a modem, a network interface (such as an Ethernetcard), a communications port, a Personal Computer Memory CardInternational Association (PCMCIA) slot and card, etc. Software and datatransferred via communications interface are in the form of signalswhich may be electronic, electromagnetic, optical or other signalscapable of being received by communications interface. These signals areprovided to communications interface via a communications path (e.g.,channel). This channel carries signals and may be implemented usingwire, cable, fiber optics, a telephone line, a cellular link, a radiofrequency (RF) link, wireless and other communications channels.

The terms “computer program medium” and “computer usable medium” and“computer readable medium” are used to generally refer to media such asremovable storage drive and a hard disk installed in hard disk drive.These computer program products provide software to computer system.

Computer programs (also referred to as computer control logic) arestored in main memory and/or secondary memory. Computer programs mayalso be received via communications interface. Such computer programs,when executed, enable the computer system to perform the features asdiscussed herein. In particular, the computer programs, when executed,enable the processor to perform the features of various embodiments.Accordingly, such computer programs represent controllers of thecomputer system.

In various embodiments, software may be stored in a computer programproduct and loaded into computer system using removable storage drive,hard disk drive or communications interface. The control logic(software), when executed by the processor, causes the processor toperform the functions of various embodiments as described herein. Invarious embodiments, hardware components such as application specificintegrated circuits (ASICs). Implementation of the hardware statemachine so as to perform the functions described herein will be apparentto persons skilled in the relevant art(s).

In various embodiments, the server may include application servers (e.g.WEB SPHERE, WEB LOGIC, JBOSS, EDB® Postgres Plus Advanced Server®(PPAS), etc.). In various embodiments, the server may include webservers (e.g. APACHE, IIS, GWS, SUN JAVA® SYSTEM WEB SERVER, JAVAVirtual Machine running on LINUX or WINDOWS).

Practitioners will appreciate that web client 192 may or may not be indirect contact with an application server. For example, web client 192may access the services of an application server through another serverand/or hardware component, which may have a direct or indirectconnection to an Internet server. For example, web client 192 maycommunicate with an application server via a load balancer. In variousembodiments, access is through a network or the Internet through acommercially-available web-browser software package.

As those skilled in the art will appreciate, web client 192 includes anoperating system (e.g., WINDOWS® /CE/Mobile, OS2, UNIX®, LINUX®,SOLARIS®, MacOS, etc.) as well as various conventional support softwareand drivers typically associated with computers. Web client 192 mayinclude any suitable personal computer, network computer, workstation,personal digital assistant, cellular phone, smart phone, minicomputer,mainframe or the like. Web client 192 can be in a home or businessenvironment with access to a network. In various embodiments, access isthrough a network or the Internet through a commercially availableweb-browser software package. Web client 192 may implement securityprotocols such as Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Transport LayerSecurity (TLS). Web client 192 may implement several application layerprotocols including http, https, ftp, and sftp.

In various embodiments, components, modules, and/or engines of system100 and/or internal system 101 may be implemented as micro-applicationsor micro-apps. Micro-apps are typically deployed in the context of amobile operating system, including for example, a WINDOWS® mobileoperating system, an ANDROID® Operating System, APPLE® IOS®, aBLACKBERRY® operating system and the like. The micro-app may beconfigured to leverage the resources of the larger operating system andassociated hardware via a set of predetermined rules which govern theoperations of various operating systems and hardware resources. Forexample, where a micro-app desires to communicate with a device ornetwork other than the mobile device or mobile operating system, themicro-app may leverage the communication protocol of the operatingsystem and associated device hardware under the predetermined rules ofthe mobile operating system. Moreover, where the micro-app desires aninput from a user, the micro-app may be configured to request a responsefrom the operating system which monitors various hardware components andthen communicates a detected input from the hardware to the micro-app.

As used herein an “identifier” may be any suitable identifier thatuniquely identifies an item. For example, the identifier may be aglobally unique identifier (“GUID”). The GUID may be an identifiercreated and/or implemented under the universally unique identifierstandard. Moreover, the GUID may be stored as 128-bit value that can bedisplayed as 32 hexadecimal digits. The identifier may also include amajor number, and a minor number. The major number and minor number mayeach be 16 bit integers.

As used herein, the term “network” includes any cloud, cloud computingsystem or electronic communications system or method which incorporateshardware and/or software components. Communication among the parties maybe accomplished through any suitable communication channels, such as,for example, a telephone network, an extranet, an intranet, Internet,point of interaction device (point of sale device, personal digitalassistant (e.g., IPHONE®, BLACKBERRY®), cellular phone, kiosk, etc.),online communications, satellite communications, off-linecommunications, wireless communications, transponder communications,local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), virtual privatenetwork (VPN), networked or linked devices, keyboard, mouse and/or anysuitable communication or data input modality. Moreover, although thesystem is frequently described herein as being implemented with TCP/IPcommunications protocols, the system may also be implemented using IPX,APPLE®talk, IP-6, NetBIOS®, OSI, any tunneling protocol (e.g. IPsec,SSH), or any number of existing or future protocols. If the network isin the nature of a public network, such as the Internet, it may beadvantageous to presume the network to be insecure and open toeavesdroppers. Specific information related to the protocols, standards,and application software utilized in connection with the Internet isgenerally known to those skilled in the art and, as such, need not bedetailed herein. See, for example, DILIP NAIK, INTERNET STANDARDS ANDPROTOCOLS (1998); JAVA® 2 COMPLETE, various authors, (Sybex 1999);DEBORAH RAY AND ERIC RAY, MASTERING HTML 4.0 (1997); and LOSHIN, TCP/IPCLEARLY EXPLAINED (1997) and DAVID GOURLEY AND BRIAN TOTTY, HTTP, THEDEFINITIVE GUIDE (2002), the contents of which are hereby incorporatedby reference.

The various system components may be independently, separately orcollectively suitably coupled to the network via data links whichincludes, for example, a connection to an Internet Service Provider(ISP) over the local loop as is typically used in connection withstandard modem communication, cable modem, Dish Networks®, ISDN, DigitalSubscriber Line (DSL), or various wireless communication methods, see,e.g., GILBERT HELD, UNDERSTANDING DATA COMMUNICATIONS (1996), which ishereby incorporated by reference. It is noted that the network may beimplemented as other types of networks, such as an interactivetelevision (ITV) network. Moreover, the system contemplates the use,sale or distribution of any goods, services or information over anynetwork having similar functionality described herein.

“Cloud” or “Cloud computing” includes a model for enabling convenient,on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computingresources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services)that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal managementeffort or service provider interaction. Cloud computing may includelocation-independent computing, whereby shared servers provideresources, software, and data to computers and other devices on demand.For more information regarding cloud computing, see the NIST's (NationalInstitute of Standards and Technology) definition of cloud computing athttp://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-145/SP800-145.pdf (lastvisited June 2012), which is hereby incorporated by reference in itsentirety.

As used herein, “transmit” may include sending electronic data from onesystem component to another over a network connection. Additionally, asused herein, “data” may include encompassing information such ascommands, queries, files, data for storage, and the like in digital orany other form.

Phrases and terms similar to an “item” may include any good, service,information, experience, entertainment, data, offer, discount, rebate,points, virtual currency, content, access, rental, lease, contribution,account, credit, debit, benefit, right, reward, points, coupons,credits, monetary equivalent, anything of value, something of minimal orno value, monetary value, non-monetary value and/or the like. Moreover,the “transactions” or “purchases” discussed herein may be associatedwith an item. Furthermore, a “reward” may be an item.

The system contemplates uses in association with web services, utilitycomputing, pervasive and individualized computing, security and identitysolutions, autonomic computing, cloud computing, commodity computing,mobility and wireless solutions, open source, biometrics, grid computingand/or mesh computing.

Any databases discussed herein may include relational, hierarchical,graphical, blockchain, object-oriented structure and/or any otherdatabase configurations. Common database products that may be used toimplement the databases include DB2 by IBM® (Armonk, N.Y.), variousdatabase products available from ORACLE® Corporation (Redwood Shores,Calif.), MICROSOFT® Access® or MICROSOFT® SQL Server® by MICROSOFT®Corporation (Redmond, Wash.), MySQL by MySQL AB (Uppsala, Sweden),MongoDB®, Redis®, Apache Cassandra®, or any other suitable databaseproduct. Moreover, the databases may be organized in any suitablemanner, for example, as data tables or lookup tables. Each record may bea single file, a series of files, a linked series of data fields or anyother data structure.

The blockchain structure may include a distributed database thatmaintains a growing list of data records. The blockchain may provideenhanced security because each block may hold individual transactionsand the results of any blockchain executables. Each block may contain atimestamp and a link to a previous block. Blocks may be linked becauseeach block may include the hash of the prior block in the blockchain.The linked blocks form a chain, with only one successor block allowed tolink to one other predecessor block.

Association of certain data may be accomplished through any desired dataassociation technique such as those known or practiced in the art. Forexample, the association may be accomplished either manually orautomatically. Automatic association techniques may include, forexample, a database search, a database merge, GREP, AGREP, SQL, using akey field in the tables to speed searches, sequential searches throughall the tables and files, sorting records in the file according to aknown order to simplify lookup, and/or the like. The association stepmay be accomplished by a database merge function, for example, using a“key field” in pre-selected databases or data sectors. Various databasetuning steps are contemplated to optimize database performance. Forexample, frequently used files such as indexes may be placed on separatefile systems to reduce In/Out (“I/O”) bottlenecks.

More particularly, a “key field” partitions the database according tothe high-level class of objects defined by the key field. For example,certain types of data may be designated as a key field in a plurality ofrelated data tables and the data tables may then be linked on the basisof the type of data in the key field. The data corresponding to the keyfield in each of the linked data tables is preferably the same or of thesame type. However, data tables having similar, though not identical,data in the key fields may also be linked by using AGREP, for example.In accordance with one embodiment, any suitable data storage techniquemay be utilized to store data without a standard format. Data sets maybe stored using any suitable technique, including, for example, storingindividual files using an ISO/IEC 7816-4 file structure; implementing adomain whereby a dedicated file is selected that exposes one or moreelementary files containing one or more data sets; using data setsstored in individual files using a hierarchical filing system; data setsstored as records in a single file (including compression, SQLaccessible, hashed via one or more keys, numeric, alphabetical by firsttuple, etc.); Binary Large Object (BLOB); stored as ungrouped dataelements encoded using ISO/IEC 7816-6 data elements; stored as ungroupeddata elements encoded using ISO/IEC Abstract Syntax Notation (ASN.1) asin ISO/IEC 8824 and 8825; and/or other proprietary techniques that mayinclude fractal compression methods, image compression methods, etc.

In various embodiments, the ability to store a wide variety ofinformation in different formats is facilitated by storing theinformation as a BLOB. Thus, any binary information can be stored in astorage space associated with a data set. As discussed above, the binaryinformation may be stored in association with the system or external tobut affiliated with system. The BLOB method may store data sets asungrouped data elements formatted as a block of binary via a fixedmemory offset using either fixed storage allocation, circular queuetechniques, or best practices with respect to memory management (e.g.,paged memory, least recently used, etc.). By using BLOB methods, theability to store various data sets that have different formatsfacilitates the storage of data, in the database or associated with thesystem, by multiple and unrelated owners of the data sets. For example,a first data set which may be stored may be provided by a first party, asecond data set which may be stored may be provided by an unrelatedsecond party, and yet a third data set which may be stored, may beprovided by an third party unrelated to the first and second party. Eachof these three exemplary data sets may contain different informationthat is stored using different data storage formats and/or techniques.Further, each data set may contain subsets of data that also may bedistinct from other subsets.

As stated above, in various embodiments, the data can be stored withoutregard to a common format. However, the data set (e.g., BLOB) may beannotated in a standard manner when provided for manipulating the datain the database or system. The annotation may comprise a short header,trailer, or other appropriate indicator related to each data set that isconfigured to convey information useful in managing the various datasets. For example, the annotation may be called a “condition header”,“header”, “trailer”, or “status”, herein, and may comprise an indicationof the status of the data set or may include an identifier correlated toa specific issuer or owner of the data. In one example, the first threebytes of each data set BLOB may be configured or configurable toindicate the status of that particular data set; e.g., LOADED,INITIALIZED, READY, BLOCKED, REMOVABLE, or DELETED. Subsequent bytes ofdata may be used to indicate for example, the identity of the issuer,user, transaction/membership account identifier or the like. Each ofthese condition annotations are further discussed herein.

The data set annotation may also be used for other types of statusinformation as well as various other purposes. For example, the data setannotation may include security information establishing access levels.The access levels may, for example, be configured to permit only certainindividuals, levels of employees, companies, or other entities to accessdata sets, or to permit access to specific data sets based on thetransaction, merchant, issuer, user or the like. Furthermore, thesecurity information may restrict/permit only certain actions such asaccessing, modifying, and/or deleting data sets. In one example, thedata set annotation indicates that only the data set owner or the userare permitted to delete a data set, various identified users may bepermitted to access the data set for reading, and others are altogetherexcluded from accessing the data set. However, other access restrictionparameters may also be used allowing various entities to access a dataset with various permission levels as appropriate.

The data, including the header or trailer may be received by astandalone interaction device configured to add, delete, modify, oraugment the data in accordance with the header or trailer. As such, inone embodiment, the header or trailer is not stored on the transactiondevice along with the associated issuer-owned data but instead theappropriate action may be taken by providing to the user at thestandalone device, the appropriate option for the action to be taken.The system may contemplate a data storage arrangement wherein the headeror trailer, or header or trailer history, of the data is stored on thesystem, device or transaction instrument in relation to the appropriatedata.

One skilled in the art will also appreciate that, for security reasons,any databases, systems, devices, servers or other components of thesystem may consist of any combination thereof at a single location or atmultiple locations, wherein each database or system includes any ofvarious suitable security features, such as firewalls, access codes,encryption, decryption, compression, decompression, and/or the like.

Encryption may be performed by way of any of the techniques nowavailable in the art or which may become available—e.g., Twofish, RSA,El Gamal, Schorr signature, DSA, PGP, PKI, GPG (GnuPG), and symmetricand asymmetric cryptosystems. The systems and methods may alsoincorporate SHA series cryptographic methods as well as ECC (EllipticCurve Cryptography) and other Quantum Readable Cryptography Algorithmsunder development.

The computing unit of web client 192 may be further equipped with anInternet browser connected to the Internet or an intranet using standarddial-up, cable, DSL or any other Internet protocol known in the art.Transactions originating at web client 192 may pass through a firewallin order to prevent unauthorized access from users of other networks.Further, additional firewalls may be deployed between the varyingcomponents of CMS to further enhance security.

Firewall may include any hardware and/or software suitably configured toprotect CMS components and/or enterprise computing resources from usersof other networks. Further, a firewall may be configured to limit orrestrict access to various systems and components behind the firewallfor web clients connecting through a web server. Firewall may reside invarying configurations including Stateful Inspection, Proxy based,access control lists, and Packet Filtering among others. Firewall may beintegrated within a web server or any other CMS components or mayfurther reside as a separate entity. A firewall may implement networkaddress translation (“NAT”) and/or network address port translation(“NAPT”). A firewall may accommodate various tunneling protocols tofacilitate secure communications, such as those used in virtual privatenetworking. A firewall may implement a demilitarized zone (“DMZ”) tofacilitate communications with a public network such as the Internet. Afirewall may be integrated as software within an Internet server, anyother application server components or may reside within anothercomputing device or may take the form of a standalone hardwarecomponent.

The computers discussed herein may provide a suitable website or otherInternet-based graphical user interface which is accessible by users. Inone embodiment, the MICROSOFT® INTERNET INFORMATION SERVICES® (IIS),MICROSOFT® Transaction Server (MTS), and MICROSOFT® SQL Server, are usedin conjunction with the MICROSOFT® operating system, MICROSOFT® NT webserver software, a MICROSOFT® SQL Server database system, and aMICROSOFT® Commerce Server. Additionally, components such as Access orMICROSOFT® SQL Server, ORACLE®, Sybase, Informix MySQL, Interbase, etc.,may be used to provide an Active Data Object (ADO) compliant databasemanagement system. In one embodiment, the Apache web server is used inconjunction with a Linux operating system, a My SQL database, and thePerl, PHP, Ruby, and/or Python programming languages.

Any of the communications, inputs, storage, databases or displaysdiscussed herein may be facilitated through a website having web pages.The term “web page” as it is used herein is not meant to limit the typeof documents and applications that might be used to interact with theuser. For example, a typical website might include, in addition tostandard HTML documents, various forms, JAVA® applets, JAVASCRIPT,active server pages (ASP), common gateway interface scripts (CGI),extensible markup language (XML), dynamic HTML, cascading style sheets(CSS), AJAX (Asynchronous JAVASCRIPT And XML), helper applications,plug-ins, and the like. A server may include a web service that receivesa request from a web server, the request including a URL and an IPaddress (123.56.789.234). The web server retrieves the appropriate webpages and sends the data or applications for the web pages to the IPaddress. Web services are applications that are capable of interactingwith other applications over a communications means, such as theinternet. Web services are typically based on standards or protocolssuch as XML, SOAP, AJAX, WSDL and UDDI. Web services methods are wellknown in the art, and are covered in many standard texts. See, e.g.,ALEX NGHIEM, IT WEB SERVICES: A ROADMAP FOR THE ENTERPRISE (2003),hereby incorporated by reference. For example, representational statetransfer (REST), or RESTful, web services may provide one way ofenabling interoperability between applications.

Middleware may include any hardware and/or software suitably configuredto facilitate communications and/or process transactions betweendisparate computing systems. Middleware components are commerciallyavailable and known in the art. Middleware may be implemented throughcommercially available hardware and/or software, through custom hardwareand/or software components, or through a combination thereof. Middlewaremay reside in a variety of configurations and may exist as a standalonesystem or may be a software component residing on the Internet server.Middleware may be configured to process transactions between the variouscomponents of an application server and any number of internal orexternal systems for any of the purposes disclosed herein. WEBSPHEREMQTM (formerly MQSeries) by IBM®, Inc. (Armonk, N.Y.) is an example of acommercially available middleware product. An Enterprise Service Bus(“ESB”) application is another example of middleware.

Practitioners will also appreciate that there are a number of methodsfor displaying data within a browser-based document. Data may berepresented as standard text or within a fixed list, scrollable list,drop-down list, editable text field, fixed text field, pop-up window,and the like. Likewise, there are a number of methods available formodifying data in a web page such as, for example, free text entry usinga keyboard, selection of menu items, check boxes, option boxes, and thelike.

The system and method may be described herein in terms of functionalblock components, screen shots, optional selections and variousprocessing steps. It should be appreciated that such functional blocksmay be realized by any number of hardware and/or software componentsconfigured to perform the specified functions. For example, the systemmay employ various integrated circuit components, e.g., memory elements,processing elements, logic elements, look-up tables, and the like, whichmay carry out a variety of functions under the control of one or moremicroprocessors or other control devices. Similarly, the softwareelements of the system may be implemented with any programming orscripting language such as C, C++, C#, JAVA®, JAVASCRIPT, JAVASCRIPTObject Notation (JSON), VBScript, Macromedia Cold Fusion, COBOL,MICROSOFT® Active Server Pages, assembly, PERL, PHP, awk, Python, VisualBasic, SQL Stored Procedures, PL/SQL, any UNIX shell script, andextensible markup language (XML) with the various algorithms beingimplemented with any combination of data structures, objects, processes,routines or other programming elements. Further, it should be noted thatthe system may employ any number of conventional techniques for datatransmission, signaling, data processing, network control, and the like.Still further, the system could be used to detect or prevent securityissues with a client-side scripting language, such as JAVASCRIPT,VBScript or the like. For a basic introduction of cryptography andnetwork security, see any of the following references: (1) “AppliedCryptography: Protocols, Algorithms, And Source Code In C,” by BruceSchneier, published by John Wiley & Sons (second edition, 1995); (2)“JAVA® Cryptography” by Jonathan Knudson, published by O'Reilly &Associates (1998); (3) “Cryptography & Network Security: Principles &Practice” by William Stallings, published by Prentice Hall; all of whichare hereby incorporated by reference.

In various embodiments, the software elements of the system may also beimplemented using Node.js®. Node.js® may implement several modules tohandle various core functionalities. For example, a package managementmodule, such as npm®, may be implemented as an open source library toaid in organizing the installation and management of third-partyNode.js® programs. Node.js® may also implement a process manager, suchas, for example, Parallel Multithreaded Machine (“PM2”); a resource andperformance monitoring tool, such as, for example, Node ApplicationMetrics (“appmetrics”); a library module for building user interfaces,such as for example ReachJS®; and/or any other suitable and/or desiredmodule.

As used herein, the term “end user”, “consumer”, “customer”,“cardmember”, “business” or “merchant” may be used interchangeably witheach other, and each shall mean any person, entity, governmentorganization, business, machine, hardware, and/or software. A bank maybe part of the system, but the bank may represent other types of cardissuing institutions, such as credit card companies, card sponsoringcompanies, or third party issuers under contract with financialinstitutions. It is further noted that other participants may beinvolved in some phases of the transaction, such as an intermediarysettlement institution, but these participants are not shown.

Each participant is equipped with a computing device in order tointeract with the system and facilitate online commerce transactions.The customer has a computing unit in the form of a personal computer,although other types of computing units may be used including laptops,notebooks, hand held computers, set-top boxes, cellular telephones,touch-tone telephones and the like. The merchant has a computing unitimplemented in the form of a computer-server, although otherimplementations are contemplated by the system. The bank has a computingcenter shown as a main frame computer. However, the bank computingcenter may be implemented in other forms, such as a mini-computer, a PCserver, a network of computers located in the same of differentgeographic locations, or the like. Moreover, the system contemplates theuse, sale or distribution of any goods, services or information over anynetwork having similar functionality described herein

The merchant computer and the bank computer may be interconnected via asecond network, referred to as a payment network. The payment networkwhich may be part of certain transactions represents existingproprietary networks that presently accommodate transactions for creditcards, debit cards, and other types of financial/banking cards. Thepayment network is a closed network that is assumed to be secure fromeavesdroppers. Exemplary transaction networks may include the AmericanExpress®, VisaNet®, Veriphone®, Discover Card®, PayPal®, ApplePay®,GooglePay®, private networks (e.g., department store networks), and/orany other payment networks.

The electronic commerce system may be implemented at the customer andissuing bank. In an exemplary implementation, the electronic commercesystem is implemented as computer software modules loaded onto thecustomer computer and the banking computing center. The merchantcomputer does not require any additional software to participate in theonline commerce transactions supported by the online commerce system.

As will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art, the systemmay be embodied as a customization of an existing system, an add-onproduct, a processing apparatus executing upgraded software, a standalone system, a distributed system, a method, a data processing system,a device for data processing, and/or a computer program product.Accordingly, any portion of the system or a module may take the form ofa processing apparatus executing code, an internet based embodiment, anentirely hardware embodiment, or an embodiment combining aspects of theinternet, software and hardware. Furthermore, the system may take theform of a computer program product on a computer-readable storage mediumhaving computer-readable program code means embodied in the storagemedium. Any suitable computer-readable storage medium may be utilized,including hard disks, CD-ROM, optical storage devices, magnetic storagedevices, and/or the like.

The system and method is described herein with reference to screenshots, block diagrams and flowchart illustrations of methods, apparatus(e.g., systems), and computer program products according to variousembodiments. It will be understood that each functional block of theblock diagrams and the flowchart illustrations, and combinations offunctional blocks in the block diagrams and flowchart illustrations,respectively, can be implemented by computer program instructions.

These computer program instructions may be loaded onto a general purposecomputer, special purpose computer, or other programmable dataprocessing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructionsthat execute on the computer or other programmable data processingapparatus create means for implementing the functions specified in theflowchart block or blocks. These computer program instructions may alsobe stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer orother programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readablememory produce an article of manufacture including instruction meanswhich implement the function specified in the flowchart block or blocks.The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer orother programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series ofoperational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmableapparatus to produce a computer-implemented process such that theinstructions which execute on the computer or other programmableapparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in theflowchart block or blocks.

Accordingly, functional blocks of the block diagrams and flowchartillustrations support combinations of means for performing the specifiedfunctions, combinations of steps for performing the specified functions,and program instruction means for performing the specified functions. Itwill also be understood that each functional block of the block diagramsand flowchart illustrations, and combinations of functional blocks inthe block diagrams and flowchart illustrations, can be implemented byeither special purpose hardware-based computer systems which perform thespecified functions or steps, or suitable combinations of specialpurpose hardware and computer instructions. Further, illustrations ofthe process flows and the descriptions thereof may make reference touser WINDOWS®, webpages, websites, web forms, prompts, etc.Practitioners will appreciate that the illustrated steps describedherein may comprise in any number of configurations including the use ofWINDOWS®, webpages, web forms, popup WINDOWS®, prompts and the like. Itshould be further appreciated that the multiple steps as illustrated anddescribed may be combined into single webpages and/or WINDOWS® but havebeen expanded for the sake of simplicity. In other cases, stepsillustrated and described as single process steps may be separated intomultiple webpages and/or WINDOWS® but have been combined for simplicity.

The term “non-transitory” is to be understood to remove only propagatingtransitory signals per se from the claim scope and does not relinquishrights to all standard computer-readable media that are not onlypropagating transitory signals per se. Stated another way, the meaningof the term “non-transitory computer-readable medium” and“non-transitory computer-readable storage medium” should be construed toexclude only those types of transitory computer-readable media whichwere found in In Re Nuijten to fall outside the scope of patentablesubject matter under 35 U.S.C. § 101.

Benefits, other advantages, and solutions to problems have beendescribed herein with regard to specific embodiments. However, thebenefits, advantages, solutions to problems, and any elements that maycause any benefit, advantage, or solution to occur or become morepronounced are not to be construed as critical, required, or essentialfeatures or elements of the disclosure. The scope of the disclosure isaccordingly to be limited by nothing other than the appended claims, inwhich reference to an element in the singular is not intended to mean“one and only one” unless explicitly so stated, but rather “one ormore.” Moreover, where a phrase similar to ‘at least one of A, B, and C’or ‘at least one of A, B, or C’ is used in the claims or specification,it is intended that the phrase be interpreted to mean that A alone maybe present in an embodiment, B alone may be present in an embodiment, Calone may be present in an embodiment, or that any combination of theelements A, B and C may be present in a single embodiment; for example,A and B, A and C, B and C, or A and B and C. Although the disclosureincludes a method, it is contemplated that it may be embodied ascomputer program instructions on a tangible computer-readable carrier,such as a magnetic or optical memory or a magnetic or optical disk. Allstructural, chemical, and functional equivalents to the elements of theabove-described various embodiments that are known to those of ordinaryskill in the art are expressly incorporated herein by reference and areintended to be encompassed by the present claims. Moreover, it is notnecessary for a device or method to address each and every problemsought to be solved by the present disclosure, for it to be encompassedby the present claims. Furthermore, no element, component, or methodstep in the present disclosure is intended to be dedicated to the publicregardless of whether the element, component, or method step isexplicitly recited in the claims. No claim element is intended to invoke35 U.S.C. 112(f) unless the element is expressly recited using thephrase “means for.” As used herein, the terms “comprises”, “comprising”,or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusiveinclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus thatcomprises a list of elements does not include only those elements butmay include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to suchprocess, method, article, or apparatus.

In yet another embodiment, the transponder, transponder-reader, and/ortransponder-reader system are configured with a biometric securitysystem that may be used for providing biometrics as a secondary form ofidentification. The biometric security system may include a transponderand a reader communicating with the system. The biometric securitysystem also may include a biometric sensor that detects biometricsamples and a device for verifying biometric samples. The biometricsecurity system may be configured with one or more biometric scanners,processors and/or systems. A biometric system may include one or moretechnologies, or any portion thereof, such as, for example, recognitionof a biometric. As used herein, a biometric may include a user's voice,fingerprint, facial, ear, signature, vascular patterns, DNA sampling,hand geometry, sound, olfactory, keystroke/typing, iris, retinal or anyother biometric relating to recognition based upon any body part,function, system, attribute and/or other characteristic, or any portionthereof.

Phrases and terms similar to a “party” may include any individual,consumer, customer, group, business, organization, government entity,transaction account issuer or processor (e.g., credit, charge, etc),merchant, consortium of merchants, account holder, charitableorganization, software, hardware, and/or any other type of entity. Theterms “user,” “consumer,” “purchaser,” and/or the plural form of theseterms are used interchangeably throughout herein to refer to thosepersons or entities that are alleged to be authorized to use atransaction account.

Phrases and terms similar to “account”, “account number”, “account code”or “customer account” as used herein, may include any device, code(e.g., one or more of an authorization/access code, personalidentification number (“PIN”), Internet code, other identification code,and/or the like), number, letter, symbol, digital certificate, smartchip, digital signal, analog signal, biometric or otheridentifier/indicia suitably configured to allow the consumer to access,interact with or communicate with the system. The account number mayoptionally be located on or associated with a rewards account, chargeaccount, credit account, debit account, prepaid account, telephone card,embossed card, smart card, magnetic stripe card, bar code card,transponder, radio frequency card or an associated account.

The system may include or interface with any of the foregoing accounts,devices, and/or a transponder and reader (e.g. RFID reader) in RFcommunication with the transponder (which may include a fob), orcommunications between an initiator and a target enabled by near fieldcommunications (NFC). Typical devices may include, for example, a keyring, tag, card, cell phone, wristwatch or any such form capable ofbeing presented for interrogation. Moreover, the system, computing unitor device discussed herein may include a “pervasive computing device,”which may include a traditionally non-computerized device that isembedded with a computing unit. Examples may include watches, Internetenabled kitchen appliances, restaurant tables embedded with RF readers,wallets or purses with imbedded transponders, etc. Furthermore, a deviceor financial transaction instrument may have electronic andcommunications functionality enabled, for example, by: a network ofelectronic circuitry that is printed or otherwise incorporated onto orwithin the transaction instrument (and typically referred to as a “smartcard”); a fob having a transponder and an RFID reader; and/or near fieldcommunication (NFC) technologies. For more information regarding NFC,refer to the following specifications all of which are incorporated byreference herein: ISO/IEC 18092/ECMA-340, Near Field CommunicationInterface and Protocol-1 (NFCIP-1); ISO/IEC 21481/ECMA-352, Near FieldCommunication Interface and Protocol-2 (NFCIP-2); and EMV 4.2 availableat http://www.emvco.com/default.aspx.

The account number may be distributed and stored in any form of plastic,electronic, magnetic, radio frequency, wireless, audio and/or opticaldevice capable of transmitting or downloading data from itself to asecond device. A customer account number may be, for example, asixteen-digit account number, although each credit provider has its ownnumbering system, such as the fifteen-digit numbering system used byAmerican Express. Each company's account numbers comply with thatcompany's standardized format such that the company using afifteen-digit format will generally use three-spaced sets of numbers, asrepresented by the number “0000 000000 00000”. The first five to sevendigits are reserved for processing purposes and identify the issuingbank, account type, etc. In this example, the last (fifteenth) digit isused as a sum check for the fifteen digit number. The intermediaryeight-to-eleven digits are used to uniquely identify the consumer. Amerchant account number may be, for example, any number or alpha-numericcharacters that identify a particular merchant for purposes of accountacceptance, account reconciliation, reporting, or the like.

In various embodiments, an account number may identify a customer. Inaddition, in various embodiments, a customer may be identified by avariety of identifiers, including, for example, an email address, atelephone number, a cookie id, a radio frequency identifier (RFID), abiometric, username, password, and/or the like.

Phrases and terms similar to “transaction account” may include anyaccount that may be used to facilitate a financial transaction.

Phrases and terms similar to “financial institution” or “transactionaccount issuer” may include any entity that offers transaction accountservices. Although often referred to as a “financial institution,” thefinancial institution may represent any type of bank, lender or othertype of account issuing institution, such as credit card companies, cardsponsoring companies, or third party issuers under contract withfinancial institutions. It is further noted that other participants maybe involved in some phases of the transaction, such as an intermediarysettlement institution.

Phrases and terms similar to “business” or “merchant” may be usedinterchangeably with each other and shall mean any person, entity,distributor system, software and/or hardware that is a provider, brokerand/or any other entity in the distribution chain of goods or services.For example, a merchant may be a grocery store, a retail store, a travelagency, a service provider, an on-line merchant or the like.

The terms “payment vehicle,” “financial transaction instrument,”“transaction instrument” and/or the plural form of these terms may beused interchangeably throughout to refer to a financial instrument.

Phrases and terms similar to “merchant,” “supplier” or “seller” mayinclude any entity that receives payment or other consideration. Forexample, a supplier may request payment for goods sold to a buyer whoholds an account with a transaction account issuer.

Phrases and terms similar to a “buyer” may include any entity thatreceives goods or services in exchange for consideration (e.g. financialpayment). For example, a buyer may purchase, lease, rent, barter orotherwise obtain goods from a supplier and pay the supplier using atransaction account.

Phrases and terms similar to “internal data” may include any data acredit issuer possesses or acquires pertaining to a particular customerthrough the customer's use of the issuer's transaction instrument and/ortransaction account. Internal data may be gathered before, during, orafter a relationship between the credit issuer and the transactionaccount holder (e.g., the customer or buyer). Such data may includeconsumer demographic data. Customer demographic data includes any datapertaining to a consumer. Customer demographic data may include consumername, address, telephone number, email address, employer and socialsecurity number. Customer transactional data is any data pertaining tothe particular transactions in which a customer engages during any giventime period. Customer transactional data may include, for example,transaction amount, transaction time, transaction vendor/merchant, andtransaction vendor/merchant location. Transaction vendor/merchantlocation may contain a high degree of specificity to a vendor/merchant.For example, transaction vendor/merchant location may include aparticular gasoline filing station in a particular postal code locatedat a particular cross section or address. Also, for example, transactionvendor/merchant location may include a particular web address, such as aUniform Resource Locator (“URL”), an email address and/or an InternetProtocol (“IP”) address for a vendor/merchant. Transactionvendor/merchant, and transaction vendor/merchant location may beassociated with a particular consumer and further associated with setsof consumers. Customer payment data includes any data pertaining to aconsumer's history of paying debt obligations. Customer payment data mayinclude consumer payment dates, payment amounts, balance amount, andcredit limit. Internal data may further comprise records of consumerservice calls, complaints, requests for credit line increases,questions, and/or comments (examples of account activity data). A recordof a customer service call includes, for example, date of call, reasonfor call, and any transcript or summary of the actual call.

Phrases similar to a “payment processor” may include a company (e.g., athird party) appointed (e.g., by a merchant) to handle transactions. Apayment processor may include an issuer, acquirer, authorizer and/or anyother system or entity involved in the transaction process. Paymentprocessors may be broken down into two types: front-end and back-end.Front-end payment processors have connections to various transactionaccounts and supply authorization and settlement services to themerchant banks' merchants. Back-end payment processors acceptsettlements from front-end payment processors and, via The FederalReserve Bank, move money from an issuing bank to the merchant bank. Inan operation that will usually take a few seconds, the payment processorwill both check the details received by forwarding the details to therespective account's issuing bank or card association for verification,and may carry out a series of anti-fraud measures against thetransaction. Additional parameters, including the account's country ofissue and its previous payment history, may be used to gauge theprobability of the transaction being approved. In response to thepayment processor receiving confirmation that the transaction accountdetails have been verified, the information may be relayed back to themerchant, who will then complete the payment transaction. In response tothe verification being denied, the payment processor relays theinformation to the merchant, who may then decline the transaction.

Phrases similar to a “payment gateway” or “gateway” may include anapplication service provider service that authorizes payments fore-businesses, online retailers, and/or traditional brick and mortarmerchants. The gateway may be the equivalent of a physical point of saleterminal located in most retail outlets. A payment gateway may protecttransaction account details by encrypting sensitive information, such astransaction account numbers, to ensure that information passes securelybetween the customer and the merchant and also between merchant andpayment processor.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: receiving, by a processor,a communication from a customer; identifying, by the processor, acustomer profile associated with the customer; accessing, by theprocessor, account activity data associated with the customer profile;analyzing, by the processor, the account activity data; and determining,by the processor, an intent prediction associated with the communicationbased on the analyzing the account activity data, wherein the intentprediction comprises a predicted reason for the communication.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: presenting, by the processor, theintent prediction to the customer; and receiving, by the processor, anaccuracy response from the customer in response to the presenting theintent prediction.
 3. The method of claim 2, further comprising routing,by the processor, the communication to a service system based on theintent prediction.
 4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:detecting, by the processor, completion of an action; determining, bythe processor, a recommended action based on the analyzing the accountactivity data; and presenting, by the processor, the recommended actionto the customer after the detecting the completion of the action.
 5. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the determining the intent prediction of thecustomer comprises: ranking, by the processor, a plurality of intentinsights comprised in the account activity data, producing a ranking ofthe plurality of intent insights; and determining, by the processor, theintent prediction by identifying, by the processor, a highest rankingintent insight of the plurality of intent insights.
 6. The method ofclaim 5, wherein the determining the intent prediction furthercomprises: determining, by the processor, a priority insight of theplurality of intent insights; and adjusting, by the processor, theranking of the plurality of intent insights based on a priority insightsuch that the priority insight is the highest ranking intent insight ofthe plurality of intent insights.
 7. The method of claim 5, wherein theranking the plurality of intent insights comprises ranking the pluralityof intent insights in chronological order, wherein a most recent intentinsight comprises a highest rank.
 8. The method of claim 3, furthercomprising transmitting, by the processor, a context message to anoperator of the service system receiving the communication in theresponse to the routing.
 9. An article of manufacture including anon-transitory, tangible computer readable storage medium havinginstructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by aprocessor of a processing machine, cause the processor to performoperations comprising: receiving, by the processor, a communication froma customer; identifying, by the processor, a customer profile associatedwith the customer; accessing, by the processor, account activity dataassociated with the customer profile; analyzing, by the processor, theaccount activity data; and determining, by the processor, an intentprediction associated with the communication based on the analyzing theaccount activity data, wherein the intent prediction comprises apredicted reason for the communication.
 10. The article of claim 9,wherein the operations further comprise: presenting, by the processor,the intent prediction to the customer; and receiving, by the processor,an accuracy response from the customer in response to the presenting theintent prediction.
 11. The article of claim 10, wherein the operationsfurther comprise routing, by the processor, the communication to aservice system based on the intent prediction.
 12. The article of claim11, wherein the operations further comprise: detecting, by theprocessor, completion of an action; determining, by the processor, arecommended action based on the analyzing the account activity data; andpresenting, by the processor, the recommended action to the customerafter the detecting the completion of the action.
 13. The article ofclaim 9, wherein the determining the intent prediction of the customercomprises: ranking, by the processor, a plurality of intent insightscomprised in the account activity data, producing a ranking of theplurality of intent insights; and determining, by the processor, theintent prediction by identifying, by the processor, a highest rankingintent insight of the plurality of intent insights.
 14. The article ofclaim 13, wherein the determining the intent prediction furthercomprises: determining, by the processor, a priority insight of theplurality of intent insights; and adjusting, by the processor, theranking of the plurality of intent insights based on a priority insightsuch that the priority insight is the highest ranking intent insight ofthe plurality of intent insights.
 15. The article of claim 13, whereinthe ranking the plurality of intent insights comprises ranking theplurality of intent insights in chronological order, wherein a mostrecent intent insight comprises a highest rank.
 16. The article of claim11, wherein the operations further comprise transmitting, by theprocessor, a context message to an operator of the service systemreceiving the communication in the response to the routing.
 17. A systemcomprising: a processor of a processing machine, a tangible,non-transitory memory configured to communicate with the processor, thetangible, non-transitory memory having instructions stored thereon that,in response to execution by the processor, cause the processor toperform operations comprising: receiving, by the processor, acommunication from a customer; identifying, by the processor, a customerprofile associated with the customer; accessing, by the processor,account activity data associated with the customer profile; analyzing,by the processor, the account activity data; and determining, by theprocessor, an intent prediction associated with the communication basedon the analyzing the account activity data, wherein the intentprediction comprises a predicted reason for the communication.
 18. Thesystem of claim 17, wherein the operations further comprise: presenting,by the processor, the intent prediction to the customer; and receiving,by the processor, an accuracy response from the customer in response tothe presenting the intent prediction.
 19. The system of claim 18,wherein the operations further comprise routing, by the processor, thecommunication to a service system based on the intent prediction. 20.The system of claim 17, wherein the determining the intent prediction ofthe customer comprises: ranking, by the processor, a plurality of intentinsights comprised in the account activity data, producing a ranking ofthe plurality of intent insights; and determining, by the processor, theintent prediction by identifying, by the processor, a highest rankingintent insight of the plurality of intent insights.